Vertical retort with crossovers



Oct. 28, 1930. J. BECKER 1,779,958

VERTICAL RETORT WITH CROSSOVERS Filed Aug. 26, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet l I l5 l5 INVENTOR f fi I By Mm ATTORNEYS.

Oct. 28, 1930. J. BECKER 1,779,958

VERTICAL RETORT WITH CROSSOVERS ZS I 0 28 Z1, ATTORNEYS.

Oct. 28, .1930. BECKER 1,779,958

VERTICAL RETORT WITH CRQSSOVERS l8 INVEEZTOQZ I BYM flv 9 ATTORNEYS.

uniform heating.

pa e; Oct 2s, 1930 UNITED: STATES PATE NT orrics JOSEPH mscxnia, or rmrsnuaen, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB r0 THE xorrnas oom- IAN'Y, OB PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA vEMIcAL smear WITH cnossovnas Applicatien filed August 26, 1924. Serial 1T0; 734,164.

This invention contemplates certain improvements in the art of coking retorts intermittent vertical type.

In retorts of the continuous vertical type, in which the fuel gases burn at one time in one group of flued walls while another group serves to dischar e the products of combustion, it has hereto ore been considered necessary-to carry the products of combustion from the first group to the second around the coking chambers in order not to interfere.

with the charging openings in thetop of the oven.

In the present invention the passageways around the coking chambers are entirely eliminated b the provision of a bridge-piece, or bridge pieces, provided withv a passageway or passa eways across the feed opening for thetrans er of the products of combustion. By this arrangement the .coal feed from the hopper is s lit, but this causes no serious difliculty an the arrangement affords a very simple method of transferring the products of combustion and has the distinct advanta e that the gases stay within the region 0 the heating elements of the structure and are not carried outside to'heat unnecessary parts. This'results in a perfect structural symmetry eliminating tortuous passageways and thereby insuring a more In batteries of this type it is obvious that I alternate coking chamberswill be provided with crossovers, whereas the intermediate coking chambers will not be provided with crossovers. The provision of bridge pieces for the crossovers in the former would therefore result indifferent radiating and heat retaining conditions from those obtaining'in the latter. In order to make the conditions uniform in all of the coking chambers I therefore prefer to provide in the latter chambers bridge pieces of similar characteristics to those employed in the former, but not necessarily provided with crossover passageways. Th s has the distinct advantage that it prevents radiation and retains the heat of the in-' termediate chambers in addition to rendering the action of all of the chambers uniform, 1n-

creasing the efliciency and simplifying the.

operation of the battery.

It is apparent that all of the flues of a given wall will pass the gases in the same direction with the result that there will be no counterflow between adjacent fines of the same wall and all of the fines of each heating wall will be either simultaneously burning or simultaneously operating as downflow flues carrying away the waste gases to outflow operating regenerators.

My invention is illustrated as applied to a combination coke retort battery i. e. one adapted for use either with producer gas or oven gas, a battery having these features being more particularly described in my Patent No. 1,416,222, granted May 16, 1922. My

present arrangement of the regenerators and connections is such that when producer gas is used those regenerators which are passing waste gases fromadjacent pairs of heating walls lie next to each other and are sepa: rated from the regenerators passing producer gas'by other regenerators passing air, thus preventing the waste of costly producer gas through the walls leading into the regenerators passing waste gas. When oven gas is used the two producer gas regenerators lying between air regenerators may likewise be connected to convey air since the coke oven gas is directly introduced into the flue walls by special ducts and is not ordinarily passed downwardly on the opposite side of the intervening coking chamber so that the fined walls carryin the products of combustion will alternate y twos with those carrying the burning ases.

y invention further contemplates the reor retorts 12.

versal of flow at periodic intervals in a manner well known in this art. The same order v of flow between the regenerators and fined walls is preserved upon reversal but the up flow flues become down-flow fiues and vice versa.

Various other advantages inherently resulting from my construction will be appar-- ent upon consideration of the detailed disclosure. v

While the several features of my invention are here described in connection with a par ticular type of battery I do not wish to be limited to such use since many of the principles involved are obviously applicable to other forms of batteries.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and showing, for purposes of exemplification, a preferred form and manner in which the invention may be embodied and practiced but without limiting the claimed invention to such illustrative instance .or instances:

Figure 1 is a transverse vertical section of my improved coke oven battery taken on the line 1-1, Fig. 4, showing in section a coking chamber and crossover bridge block, and in dotted lines a regenerator, flued heating wall and communicating passageways.

Figure 2 is a composite horizontal section in different planes on the lines 2A2A, 2B 2B and 2C-2C of Figure 3 showin the relative arrangement of coking cham bers, flued heating walls, regenerators and communicating passageways.

Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section on the line 3-3 of Figure 4, showing in section the flues of a heating wall, one of the pair of associated regenerators and the pas; sa' ways therebetween. igure 4 is a composite longitudinal vertical section in different planes on the lines 4D-4D, 4E-4E and 4F4F of Figure 3 showing, respectively in section, regenerators, communicating passageways and fined heating walls with crossover disposed about the corresponding coking chamber.

Figure 5 is a top plan view of the oven battery viewed from the line 5G5G, Figure 4, with the oven hoppers removed, and artil ty in horizontal section on the line 5 5 Figures 1 and 41 The same characters of references indicate the same parts throughout the several views.

Referrin to the drawingsthere are illustrated views of a retort battery, or plant, of the 'byroduct type having features above specifi d; said batter embodies in its construction a plurality o vertically elongated heating walls 11, extending crosswise of the battery, and a plurality of intermediate verticall elongated coking chambers The heating walls 11 form the side walls of the respective coking chambers 12 as shown more particularly in Figures 2 and 4, and in the present-instance are sup- I charged into theseveral coking chambers or retorts through charging openings or holes 14: located in the top 15 of the battery and positioned directly above the chambers 12 as shown in Figure 1. Bridging the openin in each alternate coking chamber is a bridge block 15 provided with a crossover passageway 26 hereinafter referred to. The sides 14 of the opening 14 I preferably flare outwardly to the sides of the chamber and lead my gas off-takes 16 from the tops of the several chambers through ascension pipes into the usual gas collecting main which carries the distillation gas products to the hy-product recovery apparatus. The vertical sides of my bride block co-operate with the slanting sides of the charging opening to effect an efficient spreading of the coal across the chamber. While I need employ bridge blocks 15 provided with crossover passageways 26 only above alternate coking chamhers, 'I prefer to employ similar bridge blocks 15 (Fig. 5) across the intermediate coking chambers for the reason that they serve to retain the heat and render the operation of all of the chambers more uniform. The latter bridge blocks need not be provided with passageways' Above each charging opening 14 I provide a covered feed hopper 14 and an'angled guide 14 located above the bridge block to direct the charge to the sides thereof. The retort, if of the intermittent type, may be provided'at its bottom with a closure 12.

Heat'for coking the charges of coal in the several chambers 12 is derived fromthe heating walls 11. As shown in Figures 2 and 3 each heating wall 11 is constituted of a plurality of flame or combustion fiues 17 which may be operatively disposed into a single group where the walls are relatively narrow. The battery structure is extended laterally on one side and vertically elon ted regenerators 18 are dis osed crosswise of the extended structure aving their tops connected to'the bottoms of the flues 17 bg'e vertically disposed passageways 23 lyin tween the 'regenerators and. heating wa ls and lower horizontal passageways 23 with connections to the fiues of the respective heatm walls.

Each regenerator 18 comprises a c amber containing 0 n brickwork commonly called checkerwor indicated at and has a distributing sole channel 21 underneath and opening up into such checkerwork, said channel being provided with an outlet 22. The vertical arrangement of the regenerators effects uniform distribution of the gases across the checker-work and also efiects economy of producer gas depen desired to employ. 1

The regenerators are arranged in pairs P 1 crosses down-flow.

sageways 26 formed in the respective brid e blocks 15. This arrangement effects a su substantially uniform distribution of heat throughout each wall.

The draft through ports 24 (Figures 2 and 3) may be regulated by means of the usual movable dampers or slide bricks 27 positioned in the ordinary wayin the bottoms of the horizontal flues 25 and adapted to be reached by access flues 28 which extend from the top of the horizontal flues 25 in each heating wall through the top 15 of the battery, there being an access flue positioned over each flame or combustion flue of each heating wall. Extending crosswise of the battery and located beneath each heating wall 11 is a channel 29 for supplying coke oven gas to the several flame flues through ducts 31 provided with the usual nozzles 32. Suitable means is provided for admitting or cutting off the suppl dint upon which it is and A and W and W respectively, as shown in Figure 2, the respective pairs being heated in alternation by the hot combustion products drawn off from the flame or combustion flues and they in turn impart such heat to the medium that they 'feed'into the flame. flues. The flow through the respective pairs of regenerators is maintained concurrently in opposite directions as indicated in Figure2, in which the dots re resent up-flow and the or'example-when there is an up-flow of producer gas in one regenerator P and of air through the other regenerator A of a given pair there will be concurrently a down-flow of the products of combustion through the adjacent pair of regencrators W, W. Moreover, I arrange my connections so that a pair of down-flow regenerators cooperating with a given pair of up-flow regenerators will be adjacent a pair of downflow regenerators cooperating with a next pair of up-flow regenerators and the connections to the up-flow regenerators are such that the regenerators carrying air will lie between the regenerators carrying producer gas and those carrying the waste gases so that the loss of producer gas by leakage through the walls into the waste gas .regenerators is prevented." In other words, as specifically of coke oven gas orembodied, my preferred arrangement would comprise two consecutive pairs of down-flowregenerators carrying waste gas followed by one of a pair of upow regenerators carrying air followed in turn bytwo up-flow regenerators of adjacent pairs carrying producer gas and in turn followed by an llp-flDW regenerator carrying air and continuing throughout the series of regenerators const-ituting the battery. When oven gas is employed the two producer gas regenerators lying between the air regenerators may be connected to convey air.

It will be apparent that the entire series of flame flues 17 of each heating wall 11 is either operating for down-flow to convey waste products to one set of regenerators, or for up-fiow of the burning gases which have previously passed through the other set of regenerators, and further, for alternate coking chambers the flow will be up on one side and down on the other, whereas, for the intermediate chambers flow, will be down on both sides or up on both sides in alternation.

Reversal is effected at the end of an operating period determined by practice and by means of any preferred type of reversing up burning series of flue switches function' with the down burning series of flues and the supply of gas is turned off from the previousy up burning flues and turned on into the mains of, the reviously down burning flues.

If it be deslred to combine coke oven gas as a fuel with a neutral gaseous diluent to the up burning flues, this may be accomplished by diverting a portion of the burnt gases into the two regenerators that pre 'viously served for producer gas. The admission into each of the up-burning flues of a supply of the neutral gaseous diluent, such as waste gas, is effective to lengthen greatly the flames within such flues and to prevent the localization of the hottest flame tem erature in the extreme lower portions '0 the flues.

As applied to the intermittent type of vertical retort my improvements permit thedesigning of the battery for a one-stage heating operatlon capable of effecting the complete coking of the entire mass before discharg-' ing, thus obviating any sticking of a plastic mass due to imperfect coking of portions thereof.

In the horizontal oven the top of the coking chamber is relatively long and therefore a plurality of charging openings are provided along its length to effect an adequate distribution of the coal in charging. The portions of the top between the openings afiord convenient means for accommodating ployed. This a ing a special bridge piece or bridg retort, on the other hand, the top of the coking chamber is relatively short and only a single chargin opening is ordinarily emords no means for accommodating a crossover passageway and therefore Vertical retorts heretofore have not been equipped with communicating passageways of this type. My invention, by provide block spanning the single charging openlng of a coking chamber in vertical retorts, not onl accomplishes the result that a means is a forded in retorts of this type for carrying a crossover passageway with the advantages enumerated above but it has among other advantages the further advantage that the single stream-of relatively cold coal in its descent during charging substantially surrounds the bridge piece and by reason of its jecte both to the heat of the coking chamher and to that of the hot ases in their passage from the wall confining burning gases bustion. There results from this heat transfer also the reciprocal advantage that the preheating of the coal facilitates the subsequent coking operation, decreasing the heat losses and increasing the efiiciency of the retort.

Inintermittent vertical retorts while the flow of the gases through the bridge piece is preferably continuous the feeding of the coal is not but in continuous vertical retorts the flow of both the coal and the gases is continuous, and in the latter case the benefits of my invention are obtained to a maximum degree.

In order to increase the heat transfer from the bridging means to the descending coal I may employ a plurality of bridge pieces provided with crossovers spanning each charging o ening and so arranged as to facilitate to tlie maximum the transfer of'heat, consistent with the design of the battery.

The invention as hereinabove set fort is embodied in a particular form of constructhe scope of the claims hereinafter made.

I clalm:

- 1. In a vertical coking retort, in combina-, tion; a vertically elongated coking chamber having a charge opening at its top and adapted to be discharged through its bottom; heating walls contiguous to said chamber on two opposite lateral sides thereof and respectively constituted of vertical combustion flues; a horizontal connecting flue in the upper part of each heating wall communicably connected with all the combustion flues of its wall; and a bridge block across said charge the crossover passageways. Inthe vertical intimate contact therewith maintains the temperature of the latter below the critical the bridge piece is subto the wall conveying the products of comwardl bers provided with tlon but may be variously embodied within opening provided with a flue communicably connerl tin the horizontal flues at substantiall their central points for assing the com ustion products from the ues in one of the heating walls to the flues in the other heating wall, substantially as specified.

2. In a vertical coking retort, in combination; a vertically elongated chamber having a charge opening at its top and adapted to be discharged through its bottom; fined heating walls contiguous to said chamber on two opposite lateral sides thereof; a connecting flue in each heating wall communicating with the combustion flues therein; and abridge block across said charge opening provided with a flue communicably connecting the connecting flues for passing the combustion products from the flues in one of the heating walls to the flues in the other heating wall, substantially as specified.

3. In a vertical coking retort, in combination; a vertical chamber provided with a charge opening at its top and adapted to be discharged through its bottom; heating walls contiguous to said chamber on two 0 posite lateral sides thereof, each respective v provided with a combustion flue; and a bridge member across said charge opening at the top of said chamber and provided with a passageway constituting a means-of inter-communication between the flues of said respective walls for the passage of combustion products, substantially as specified.

. 4. 'In a coking retort, a treating chamber providedat its top with a charge opening having two opposite downwardly and outflaring sides extending toward two op osite sides of an a bridge block with substantially vertical sides spanning said opening, whereby solid material passing downwardly throug said opening will be distributed substantially uniformly at each side of said bridge block, substantially as specified.

5. In a vertical coking retort battery, in combination; a series of vertical coking chambers each provided at its top with a charge opening, and adapted to be discharged through their bottoms; flued heating walls intermediate said chambers; bridging memcrossover passageways openings of alternate chambers at" their to s and communicably connecting the flued eating walls in pairs for the passage of combustion products from the flues of one heating wall to the flues of spanning the charge :the other heating wall of the pair, and other bridging members of substantially the same size and sha e and spanning the openings of the intermediate chambers at their tops, substantially as specified. 1

6. In a coking retort, in combination; a chamber; vertically flued heating walls contiguous thereto and vertically extending regenerators located laterally of and contiguthe chamber respectively each of the pairs communicating with the flues of a difierent heating wall, substantial- 1y as specified. i

9. In'averticalcokingretortbatteryadapted to be heated by combustion of combusti le gas, that requires preheating, in combination: a series of vertical coking chambers adapted to be charged through their tops and to be dischargedthroughtheirbottoms; flued heating walls between successive chambers, the

- flues of the respectiveheating walls being communicably connected with the flues of another heatin wall on the opposite side of a coking cham er for the passage ofcombustion products by duct means extending across the tops of the intervening coking chambers; and regenerators comprislng separate regenerators for both combustible gas and for air when operable for inflow said regenerators communicating with the fiues of the respective heating walls.

10. In a vertical-coking retort, in combination; a vertical coking chamber providedwith a charging opening in its top and adapted to be discharged through its bottom flued heating walls on opposite sides of sai chamber adapted to pass burning gases up one side and products of combustion down the other side of said chamber; a bridge member spanning the charging opening in the top of said chamber and provided with a passageway in communication with the flues in the heating walls on opposite sides of said chamber for conducting hot combustion. gases continuously from each of the heating walls to the other heating wall; means for feeding coal to said charging openin so that saidflcoal-would descend over and a 011g opposite sides of said bridge member simultaneously, whereby the coal would be preheated b heat from combustion products. flowing t rough said bridge member. 4

- 11. In a battery of vertical retorts, in com bination: a series of vertical coldng cham bers each adaptedto be char ed through their tops and to be discharged t rough their bottoms; heating walls intermediate said coking chambers and respectively constituted of combustion flues, the flues of the'respective heating walls being communicable connected with the flues of another heating wall on the opposite side of a coking chamber for passage of combustion products by duct means extending over the tops of the intervening vertical coking chambers; reversible means for maintaining combustion in alternation in said heating walls; and reversible regenerators respectively communicably connected with the flues of said heating. walls.

, 12. In combination with a vertical coking chamber adapted to be charged through its top and to be discharged through its bottom,

heating walls respectively constituting two,

opposite side walls of said coking chamber and respectively constituted of vertical combustion flues, the vertical flues of the respective heating walls being communicably conanother heat-ing wall on the opposite side of a coking chamber by duct means in a bridge block extending across the top of the intervening coking chamber, reversible means for maintaining combustion in alternation in" said heating walls whereby exhaust gas produced by combustion in one heating wall may be drawn on. through the other, and revers ible regeneratiors respectively communi-- cably connected with the flues off sai'drheating walls at the lower ends of sad flues. In testimony whereof, have hereunto set m hand.

y JOSEPH BECKER nected at their upper ends with the flues of 

